"After weeks of gruelling troubleshooting, I've finally had it confirmed by Microsoft Australia and USA - something as small as swapping the video card or updating a device driver can trigger a total Vista deactivation. Put simply, your copy of Windows will stop working with very little notice (three days) and your PC will go into 'reduced functionality' mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour. You'll then need to reapply to Microsoft to get a new activation code. How can this crazy situation occur? Read on for the sorry tale."

What is the purpose of all this? ARe they actively trying to make me and others having IT problems in the office?

I seriously hope PCBSD and others take off soon and that app vendors consider this an option as right now I'd be delighted to switch. Unfortunately, this is not likely to happen any time soon.

I do use Vista on my laptop (also HP preinstalled), but not on either of my 2 main producitivity boxes. Why? Well to be sincere. Bells and Whistles don't play very nicely together with high production rate. It's like flash websites, all that loading and then waiting and then figuring out that the ad agency put all into design and none into content.

It's such a shame that a company like MS who really make solid software (like Office) can't get their act together with the OS business....

I hope so too. But actually, the popular GNU/Linux distros are already so good and easy to use that they are ready to take off right now.

I'm an RPM fan, not a Debian fan, but I've experimented with Ubuntu and it's not surprising that it has captured such a large percentage of GNU/Linux users. It's so smooth that even the simple-minded can be productive with it today.